New Delhi, June 12 (UNI) “Pakistan’s track record is very clear,” India said on Thursday as it sought to remind the US about Islamabad’s history of supporting terrorism, including granting of shelter to Osama Bin Laden.
The assertion by External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal came a day after US Central Command Chief General Michael Kurilla praised Pakistan, saying it was a “phenomenal counter-terrorism partner” in the fight against terrorism and also commended it for support in operations against ISIS.
“We all know Pahalgam attack is only the recent example of cross-border terrorism. I would remind you that only recently one of the conspirators of 26/11 Tahawwur Rana was extradited from the US to India,” Jaiswal said during the weekly briefing.
Rana, Pakistani origin Canadian citizen, is associated with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit and was one of the key plotter of Mumbai terror attack of 2008.
“Obviously none of us have forgotten that Pakistan gave shelter to Osama bin Laden. It is significant that the person and you would be aware that Dr Shakeel Afridi, who helped locate Osama Bin Laden is still imprisoned by Pakistani military,” he added.
Laden, chief of Al-Qaida terror network, was found and killed by Special Forces of America in May 2011 in a surgical operation at a residential house in Abbottabad, near Pakistan’s capital Islamabad and close to military cantonment. UNI AKK RBE SSP